


Columba Livia Domestica - The Feral Pigeon

by MephistosPoodle



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Explicit Language, First Kiss, Fluff, Humor, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Morbid Humor, Murder, POV Sebastian Moran, Pigeons, Romance, Swearing, bad puns about pigeons, beginning relationship, bird flu, exploding animals, sort of.., sounds weird doesn't it?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-03-08 13:10:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3210356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MephistosPoodle/pseuds/MephistosPoodle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Romance expressed in pigeons.</p><p>A very short story about a relationship born of silence.<br/>Silence that is interrupted by quiet cooing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting - Pigeons included.

**Author's Note:**

> Feral pigeons can be seen eating grass seeds and berries in parks and gardens in the spring, but there are plentiful sources throughout the year from scavenging (e.g., remnants left inside of dropped fast-food cartons) and they will also take insects and spiders. Additional food is also usually available from the disposing of stale bread in parks by restaurants and supermarkets and from tourists buying and distributing birdseed.  
> -Wikipedia

It is a beautiful summer night.  
The air is warm, the crickets are chirring and everything is smooth, mellow and fucking perfect as Sebastian is continuously keeping his position in the crotch of a beech tree. Of course he could have chosen a more comfortable place to wait, it’s not a particularly complicated kill.. Sebastian could’ve just hidden in the bushes below or something. No insects, now annoying leaves and bark leaving prints on his forearms. but that would have been sort of a risk, and honestly this job is so easy that his pride could not stand messing anything up about it.  
The park has two gates, a man is supposed to enter through the left one and appear in his fire line any second now, just over the lawn behind the little pond where children play at daytime, he believes that somebody is waiting for him there. He has been told some ridiculous lie about secret blueprints that will be given to him.  
He will be there just in time -00.30 it is-, Sebastian will shoot him neatly from the tree he is sitting in and then he’ll finally be able to go home and finish the packet of cigarettes that is waiting for him.  
Or at least that’s how it is supposed to be.  
In reality its a big part Sebastian just sitting in a tree waiting for something to happen. And there is of course a thing Sebastian did not think about when choosing the beech tree as position.  
How could he know about the billions of disgusting animals that inhabit a beech tree in summer? He has never been the nature kind of guy..  
Well, its going to be any time now. He tries to calm himself as he fights the feeling of weariness that his stretching his fingers out for him.  
There is a sort of melancholic air to seeing the world in the unfriendly shades of night vision gear with a white cross in the middle of one’s field of vision. An annoyingly empty field of vision by the way. Of course there isn’t much going on in a small public park at night, much less than one would think actually.. There are few pigeons on the lawn, which is weird because aren’t they supposed to sleep? But that’s by far the most interesting thing happening for quite a while now.  
Sebastian takes a look at the watch on his wrist realizes that 00.35 by now and that his target obviously thinks himself too important to appear in time for an appointment.  
Seriously, can’t people at least be punctual for their execution?  
Simultaneous with that thought, there’s finally movement in the scenery.  
A man enters the park through the right gate and walks toward one of the benches.  
But that man is not Sebastian’s target.  
There is absolutely no similarity between the podgy man in his late 50ths he is supposed to shoot and the man that is currently crossing the lawn in a confident way just like he does this all the time.  
Sebastian can’t see his face that good from where he is sitting but the man in the expensive looking suit is definitely not older than 40.. Probably quite a bit younger. There’s a great watch on his left wrist and a white paper bag in his right hand. With this suit and shoes he could be a successful banker or lawyer or a member of royalty even.. But all of this doesn’t answer the question what this slim looking man is doing, a. in a park at this time of the day and b. in Sebastian’s fire line.  
Meanwhile the stranger has taken a seat on one of the benches that are standing just a few meters from the statue that marks the spot Sebastian’s target is supposed to wait next to. And as soon as he sits there, Sebastian observes, the pigeons go _crazy._  
The all seem to spontaneously get highly exited, gathering around the man in the suit as he opens the paper bag he brought and calmly starts to feed the pigeons. With experienced movements and a content expression on his face he generously troughs them hands full of breadcrumbs.  
Sebastian is speechless.  
Not that he could say anything right now, but seriously this has to be hallucination. Or a higher entity deciding to play a practical joke on him. The guy must do that regularly, he realizes, otherwise the birds would’t stay awake to wait for him. Just when Sebastian starts to think about possible reasons for a man to rather feed pigeons at night than at day, his target enters the park through the left gate as Sebastian was told he would.  
But its a whole new thing now, there’s a witness now. There’s no way that guy will not notice when a person is shot only a few meters away.  
Sebastian’s eyes jump back and forth between the target and the man on the bench, for a moment he even thinks the pigeon-friend is looking at him… God, he needs to calm it. He’s a professional after all.. So he’ll have to kill a civilian, that’s okay, not that he hasn’t had that before.  
He breathes in, holds a second, breathes out.  
And than he’s all filled with deathly concentration.  
His target stands next to the statue and looks worried. Maybe he notices that this might be a trap. What a fast thinker he must be..  
Sebastian smiles a bit as he pulls the trigger.  
Its a perfect shot. The man drops dead immediately while the pigeons soar frightened by the sound of the body hitting the ground and and the man in the suit looks up with mild astonishment.  
Sebastian is now getting ready to shoot him too, but just when he has got him in his sight the man lifts his head and stares directly into Sebastian’s eyes and blinks.  
It is the first time Sebastian actually sees his face, otherwise he would have known that the man had noticed him.  
Its a sharp, good looking face, a face that would have been cute if decorated with a different pair of eyes. Brown eyes that have become black because of the things visible inside them.. These are predators eyes, glittering with intelligence and a hint of madness.  
No doubt that this man has noticed him just the moment he walked into the park to midnight-feed some pigeons. There is absolutely no point in sitting in the tree anymore because who is he hiding from? So why not just leave his position and have a look?  
That would be the most imprudent thing he could do right now..  
Its just too tempting..  
Quickly Sebastian takes his rifle and swiftly makes his way out of the tree and over to the man with the predator-eyes.  
Interim the pigeons have calmed and are now happily gathering around the man as he continues feeding them while he ignores the man in sniper attire jumping out of a nearby tree.  
In a way, Sebastian is amazed by this complete lack of reaction.. And without any logical reason he walks over to the man and sits next to him on the bench.  
They sit there in silence for a while, or at least in something that sounds like silence while it’s actually not because of the cooing pigeons.  
This is absurd, Sebastian thinks, I should just go and and dispose the body somehow..  
_„That was a nice shot,“ _The other man suddenly breaks the cooing silence, just when Sebastian is about to leave, he is talking in a strangely happy manner, just like you’d expect someone who is feeding pigeons in summer to talk.. _„you seem experienced, I assume you do that a lot then?“___  
_„What?“_ Sebastian asks, because he’s not sure wether he is being mocked or not.  
_„Shooting people!“_ Answers the man cheerily and trows some more breadcrumbs.  
_„Yeah, I do that quite a lot.“_ He answers dryly and continues; „You?“  
_„Shoot people? Or feed pigeons at night?“_ He sounds even happier now.  
_„Feed pigeons at night.“_ Sebastian answers, his voice rough because he hasn’t used it in hours.  
_„I do that quite a lot, I can not _afford_ being seen feeding pigeons at day.“_ There’s a slight change of tone his voice in the latter part of the sentence, something dark and dangerous waiting beneath the shallow blithesomeness. It reminds of Sebastian of realizing how deep the frozen pond you’re balancing on actually is.  
When Sebastian doesn’t answer to that, The man suddenly stops feeding the birds and turns his head. For the first time since this whimsical conversation has started the expression on his face looks like a real one. Its surprise. _„You really have no idea who I am do you?“_ A taunting sort of amusement is sparkling in his eyes. And slowly, very slowly, Sebastian starts to realize that he has have gotten himself to a situation with a good risk of leaving it in a coffin.  
_„Its Jim, Jim Moriarty.“_  
He is screwed.  
This name is everywhere in business, whoever you talk to, wherever you go, this man’s name is already there. And whenever it passes someones lips it passes them with fear, so much fear that Sebastian decides to forget, for now, that Moriarty’s head barely reaches his chin.  
Now, the catch about a name without a face, you don’t know when you stand in from of it.  
Any question about the danger of the situation dissolves. This situation is pure danger.  
The whole train of thought must have been easily visible on Sebastian’s face because the cheery expression returns to the mans face as he continues; _„Ah, there it is, that explosion of realization in your eyes.. Checking the escape ways and the chances of survival now are we? Calm it fearnought, I don’t have the heart to traumatize the pigeons even more.“_  
Sebastian tries to negate it, but he positively feels relief.  
_„Now, lets get down to business shall we? What does your employer pay you?“_ , His ton is dry now, it's a business-tone, he doesn’t even let Sebastian answer as he resolutely goes on, _„Forget it, I’ll pay you more. Plus, you get a fabulous bonus.“_  
_„Being what?“_ , Sebastian somehow manages to keep his facade. Truth be told, he would even agree when payed half his current pay just because Moriarty makes the word ‚fabulous‘ sound cool.  
_„You-„,_ The dangerous man in the perfect suit says as he switches back to this weird cheeriness and hands Sebastian the paper bag, _„-get to throw the last few breadcrumbs!“_


	2. Converging - Christianity and Pigeons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the Hebrew Bible, doves or young pigeons are acceptable burnt offerings for those who cannot afford a more expensive animal. In the Book of Genesis, Noah sent out a dove after the great flood to determine how far the floodwaters had receded. "Dove" is also a term of endearment in the Song of Songs and elsewhere. In Hebrew, Jonah (יוֹנָה) means dove. The "sign of Jonas" in Mat 16:1–4 is related to the "sign of the dove".
> 
> Jesus's parents sacrificed doves on his behalf after his circumcision (Luke 2:24). Later, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism like a dove (Matthew 3:16), and subsequently the "peace dove" became a common Christian symbol of the Holy Spirit.
> 
> -Wikipedia

It is not a beautiful summer night. It is not even actual night. More of a gray, windy twilight with occasional minutes of unnerving autumnly drizzle. Sebastian is out on the hunt, again.  
He is currently located on a country road through one of the more agricultural parts of Elmbridge and as usual he hates every minute of it. This time however this is not due to the traffic, the noise or the weather. This is one of the rare moments when Sebastian hates a job because of the job. Well, and the weather. His Boss has set him of on this mission, fully aware of the fact that Sebastian hates it. He suspects that the only reason he’s got to do it _is_ him hating it. He internaly winces when he remembers Moriarty’s face the moment he was set of on this joke of an assassination.  
It’s not like he’s got any religious issue with killing a priest. He used to buy drugs from one when he was younger. Sebastian is fully aware that there are priests out there that have done things that are far worse than killing one of their colleagues. No illusions about priests. Plus, he is not a religious man at all. Agnosticism is strong in him, but he wasn’t brought up to that. There are very faint voices in the back of Sebastians head that telling that there’s something wrong with shooting a priest in his own church.  
He recalls the conversation that has lead to all of this;  
If you could call it a conversation, he had been pretty silent.  
Sebastian had been called up to one of Moriartys offices. This one was especially cold and seemed to only consist of glass, metal and high quality plastic in cold wintery tones.  
„Sebastian I want to find this man“ his Boss had exclaimed while staring moodily onto the file lying in the middle of his desk. Sebastian had taken up the file after failing at the attempt of reading Moriartys body language. The man’s eyes had changed their color again, since he had started this god Sebastian had found out that the could, and where now of a very confusing black. There had not been a hint of brown to them in that moment. No warmth and no light to read anything in. just black. Sebastian shudders at the thought and then curses at the shudder. On the other hand he has seen grown men pee themselves at the stare of those eyes. Moriarty is like a fucking kalaidoscope of madness. One day the black eyes are nothing but a shimmer and he’s happily watching his favorite lot of pigeons, the next moment he pulls his fingers out of someones eye-socket. And there are moments when he drops everything, and confronts you the absolute cold that lies beneath all of that. It was that exact color his eyes had shifted into when he continued his sentence;  
„And I want you to kill him. Kill him. Right there.“  
Sebastian had known not to speak, not to argue not do anything except breathing and trying to stop his shrunken pupils, pulsing veins and ever so slightly clutching hands from betraying him in his struggle to hide his thoughts and -shit- feelings.  
Oh he hates this. 

He drives in silence for the next minutes until he finally starts to come closer to his destination. His destination is and old countryside church. Its not a historical church, but not a modern one either. It stands at the end of a short path just to the right and the only thing this church is radiating in the newly arrived evening is modesty.  
Sebastian stops the car and quietly emerges onto the well kept path. He silently closes the cars door and checks his gun. Of course he doesn’t need to do that, he does this purely to distract himself from a sudden feeling of something that is supposed to stay in a locked box in back of his head. Sebastian shoves all of that aside with a grunt and angrily walks towards the place of worship.  
Then, he notices the other people. Lots of other people. Totally ordinary, civilian people that are happily walking towards the church just like he is. Making their way from their ordinary civilian homes to the church of their trust.  
Evening prayer.  
Sebastian quickly puts his gun into the holster tries to calculate his chances of surviving the next day if he just turns his back and leaves now. They are around zero.

And so he sits on a bench in the church just like the other people do and tries not to laugh at the fact that his gun is pressing into his ribs.  
He succeeds in imitating whatever the lady in the violet skirt next to him does and tries to see the bright side of the moment. It is very easy for him to identify his target. That is, because his target is standing at the front, telling him about the habit of charity.  
By now it has become difficult to express in word how much he hates everything about this.  
But he sits and waits and fights the feeling of darkness that builds up on his shoulders the minute he says ‚Amen‘.  
And then, it is finally over. People are standing up and start to leave. The church empties and finally Sebastian is the only one left. He sits there and pretends to be praying. He even throughs in some latin to make it sound convincing.  
Then he stands and starts to walk towards the altar, where his target is doing whatever, back turned to Sebastian.  
What he does not notice is the other figure that has not left with the other people, the other figure that is now standing at the back, grinning.  
The man Sebastian is supposed to shoot turns around the moment Sebastian has walked up to him and gives him a mild smile.  
„What is it my son? Do you want to talk about your sins to me?“ He asks with an expression of Boredom that is poorly hidden beneath said mild smile.  
„No.“ Says Sebastian and shoots him.  
The man falls back onto the altar and makes some wet whimpering noises that tell Sebastian that it could have been a better shot but that the man will die within the next minutes anyway.  
There are traces of blood on the Redeemer’s face and suddenly Sebastian feels dirty.  
„How delightfully plain.-„ Beginns a far to familiar voice just behind him. „no, honestly so many people would have gone for a bad pun there.“  
He does not need to turn around to know who is talking. He feels the smaller man walk up to him as a hand presses into his back, to glide around his side to his hip where it then harshly turns him around. He stares straight over Moriartys head onto the closed doorway. Something tells him that absolute doom will happen to him if he looks him into the eyes now.  
„Why did you come here?“ he asks, and continues staring at the dar wood of the doors. The air is practically flirting with danger, and - Hell no.  
Sebastian can feel a hand slowly crawl up to the collar of his shirt, concerningly close to his neck, where it grips. Tightly.  
„Because of the atmosphere.“ There is nothing in Moriartys voice apart from a certain something that Sebastian cannot identify. „Look up behind you -„ Sebastian does as he is told and there, right above the bloodily decorated statue of Jesus, he notices a delicate golden fresco of a dove. A fucking pigeon. When he turns back his head he makes the mistake. Sebastian turns his head back and stares right back into the eyes of the devil. They are as black as anything could possibly be and they are full of nameless terrors and something that is dark and utterly fascinating. „-you know I am always up for a beautiful pigeon.“ Says the devil and smiles. Sebastian is slowly pulled dam by a surprisingly strong hand on his collar. By now he can faintly feel Moriarty’s breath on his lips and Sebastian is past the point where he would deny how this is driving him mad. There is a gurgling sound right behind him as the priest starts to enter the last phase of his death. Moriarty lifts an eyebrow. „Why was I told to kill him?“ Breathes Sebastian into the space between them.  
„Because his former altar server payed for it. Very very well. He seemed to have a good reason.“ Sebastian gives exhales in bitter amusement as Moriarty smiles a charmingly evil smile and conquers the space between them with a jerk of his hand.  
Their lips meet with the elegance of pit fighters in a kiss that is incredibly hot, a beautifully confusing fight for dominance that pulls Sebastian down and into the black abyss of his Boss.  
He does not wish for this ever to end, he loves every second of it, loves the heat, the tension the pain as his lower lip is bitten. When they finally break the kiss, both panting and with swollen lips he can see a fire burning in the other mans eyes. This is not Moriarty the all devouring cold this is Jim, the all consuming heat. This is close, too close, this is a whole new level of dangerous. Sebastian turns his head to look at the body on the altar, and up at the ceiling an then right back into Jims eyes. „I’m sure god frowns upon us.“  
There is black fire in Jims eyes when he answers; „No one frowns upon me for to long.“ takes Sebastians gun and shoots down the dove fresco with perfect certainty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took ages to continue.. But we still have four chapters to go!  
> stay tuned..  
> And please, leave a comment, seriously I need to hear some feedback.

**Author's Note:**

> What can I say?  
> This isn't over yet, so get the birdseed and be prepared.


End file.
